The present invention relates to a boot band used for fixing a boot made of synthetic resins, rubber, or the like, to a target member to be tightened.
A boot is used as a component for a vehicle or the like. The boot is made of synthetic resins, rubber, or the like. In the present specification, the category of a boot includes cylindrical members like a hose, a tube, and the like. Conventionally, a boot band formed of a metal belt-like member has been used to fix such a boot to a target member to be tightened.
This kind of boot band, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,622,720 for example, comprises a nail provided at an inner overlapping portion of a belt-like band body, a receive hole which is formed at an outer overlapping portion of the band body and can be engaged with the nail, and an ear portion to be plastically deformed (or caulked) when tightening the band body. In this boot band, the band body is wound on a target member to be tightened, and the nail is hooked in the receive hole. Thereafter, the ear portion is caulked by a tool to shorten the circumference length of the band body, so the band body is fixed to the target member to be tightened.
In case of the conventional boot band described above, since a tightening force is applied to the band body by caulking the ear portion, the ear portion after caulking behaves to recover its original shape. A problem hence occurs in that the tightening force is difficult to maintain if the rigidity of the ear portion is low. When this kind of boot band is set on a target member to be tightened, handling is easier as the winding diameter of the band is large to some extent. It is desired that the winding diameter greatly differ between before and after caulking. As a countermeasure, it may be considered that the tightening stroke of the band body is enlarged by enlarging the ear portion. However, if the ear portion is thus enlarged, not only the amount of projection to the outside becomes large, but also the ear portion after caulking easily returns in the direction in which the band is loosened, so the tightening force is more difficult to maintain.
Also, in a conventional boot band, the nail (or engage portion) and the ear portion (or caulking portion) are provided separately. Therefore, the service of temporal fixing by hooking the nail in the receive hole and the service of caulking the ear portion cannot be sequentially be carried out with use of one same tool, so the tool must be replaced and attached. Thus, there is room for improvement in assembly workability.